


Start of Something

by dannykkrose



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Charles Xavier minor role, Emma Frost brief appearance, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hellfire Club, I think they might be out of character, Jean Grey mentioned, Logan Howlett mentioned, No Smut, Ororo Munroe minor role, Piotr Rasputin mentioned, Scott Summers mentioned, Teresa Pryde mentioned, This doesn't take place in canon but is inspired by it, some language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 16:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18607915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannykkrose/pseuds/dannykkrose
Summary: What if Kitty was older and didn't rescue the X-Men when she escaped the Hellfire Club?Another look at how things might have been different when Kurt and Kitty met.





	1. Deerfield, Illinois

**Author's Note:**

> I liked the idea of Kitty not being afraid of Kurt, so I wrote a longer one. She's older here, 16, but he's the same age as in the comics. If all goes well, there will be another story later on in this same timeline.

There was a Rolls Royce parked in front of Kitty's house when she got home from school. Her mother was waiting at the door for her.

“There are some people here to see you,” Teresa said. She held the door open for her daughter and flicked her eyes towards the modest living room. Kitty tried to peer around her mother to see who they were before going into the house. “They're from a boarding school for gifted students like yourself.”

“What?” Kitty stepped back a pace, frowning at her mother.

“I know I should have talked to you about it first, but it seems like such a good fit for you. At least hear them out, honey.” Teresa smiled hopefully and ushered Kitty into the house.

Kitty seethed inside. Her mother had brought up the idea of a private school before, and Kitty had told her repeatedly that she wasn't interested. She liked Deerfield, she had friends, and now that her headaches were mostly gone, she was happy again. If the headaches had been replaced by something even stranger, well, no one needed to know about that.

She stepped past her mother with a controlled sigh and smiled politely at the four people in her living room. A bald man in a wheelchair. A beautiful woman with long white hair. A really hot guy who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger's rival. And a short guy with mutton chops and a bad suit. What kind of school was this?

“Good afternoon,” said the bald man. He smiled and kept his hands clasped in his lap.

“Hi,” Kitty said, still eyeing them all.

“I'm Charles Xavier,” said the bald man. “These are some of my students and associates.” Behind him, the hot guy smiled at her. Kitty found herself smiling back. 

“I am Piotr Rasputin,” he said, his accent thick and Russian. 

Logan Howlett was short and stocky and chewed an unlit cigar. He tipped a cowboy hat to her when he growled his greeting. Kitty wondered why in the world this man had come to recruit her. He looked like he wanted to kill her, not teach her. She looked up at Piotr Rasputin again, and wondered how old he was. He didn't look old enough to be a teacher.

Charles Xavier explained that his school would help hone her abilities and challenge her education. He handed her a business card and some pamphlets. Kitty stuffed the card in her pocket and set the pamphlets beside her on the couch. She listened quietly, pretended to be interested, intending to thank them and let them leave when they were done. Until Xavier spoke to her in her mind.

“I know what you are,” said his voice from inside her head. Kitty's eyes opened wide, and she glanced around nervously. Aloud, he said, “You are quite gifted, child, and I believe you would find a welcome place at the Xavier Institute.”

“Oh, she certainly is gifted, Professor!” gushed her mother. “Her IQ is very high, and she has been taking college level courses since she was twelve.”

“Mom,” Kitty fussed, blushing. She was still trying to figure out what was going on with these people. There was something familiar about them. Inside her head, he spoke again. “You are a mutant, like the rest of us, the X-Men. I know what you can do. It is an incredible gift. If you come with us, you will learn to use your ability to its full potential.”

“I like computer science,” she blurted out, and immediately felt foolish. She felt the blush creeping up again.

“We have courses in computer science, new technology, programming, and a wide variety of other subjects that might fascinate you,” said Charles Xavier aloud.

The woman took a single elegant step forward, deciding at last to introduce herself. “My name is Ororo Munroe, I'm one of the senior students at the school. Perhaps the two of us could take a walk and chat more informally?”

Kitty found herself nodding, and she and Ms. Munroe walked out the front door together. Kitty felt like she was in a stupor, still trying to work out how that man had spoken in her head. She and Ororo walked down the street and stopped at the ice cream shop.

Once they were seated in a booth with bowls of ice cream, Ms. Munroe said, “I know the professor was speaking to you telepathically. I'm sorry if he frightened you.”

“Um, I don't know what you're talking about,” Kitty said, licking her ice cream cone and refusing to make eye contact.

“Yes you do. He's a mutant. So am I. So are you.”

“People hate mutants. The only people who hate me are the popular girls.”

“Not everyone hates us,” Ms. Munroe said calmly. “Do you know what I can do?”

Kitty shook her head. 

“I command the weather, the wind, the patterns of nature. I can do all these things because I have been learning control with the professor.”

“I bet none of you fall through the floor.”

“No. None of us do that. But Piotr becomes living steel. And Logan's body heals from any injury. The professor thinks he might be almost a hundred fifty years old.”

Kitty's mouth gaped. She was about to ask how that was possible when the door to the ice cream shop exploded. Chunks of wood and glass blew into the store, the framing flew apart, and Ororo threw herself over Kitty. Several burly men entered the shop and stepped over the debris as they scanned the rubble. They had huge weapons in their hands and masks covering their faces. Behind them, a woman in white lingerie surveyed the damage. 

“Find me the girl,” she said icily.

Kitty heard Ms. Munroe's voice in her ear. “Use your power. Get out of here. Find the others—they'll keep you safe.”

Kitty concentrated, phased her body, and passed through the wall of the shop into the alley. When she emerged, she saw the people who'd been at her house running down the street—the tall, hot guy and the short strange guy—and alongside them in the Rolls was the bald man.

Guess I don't have to find the others now, she thought. But now what do I do?

She ran towards the back of the building, through the alley, and stopped. Kitty was scared, but curious. Who were those people that had just blown up an innocent little ice cream parlor? Who was the girl they were looking for? Surely not her? 

She glanced behind to see the four people from Xavier's being thrown, unconscious, into an unmarked van in the alley where she'd been only moments before. Kitty wondered how a group of heroes could be captured so easily. She warred with herself. Should she run, or try to save these people? If they were really the X-Men, did they even need her help? 

Kitty crept back along the alley, sticking close to the wall, as the thugs went back inside. The last one they dragged out was Ororo, and behind them came the woman in white lingerie. Seeing Ororo, who had been so kind to her, captured and unconscious, made up Kitty's mind. She had to do something to help, even if it wasn't much.

“We got all the X-Men, even the professor,” one of the thugs said. “But we didn't find the girl.”

The woman in white scowled and smacked the thug. “Idiots! Find her. I won't let Charles have her.”

Kitty concentrated again and put her head through the van's side. The four people—X-Men, she reminded herself—were unconscious in a pile, bound tightly. Kitty climbed in and touched Ms. Munroe's face. Her eyes opened slightly and tried to focus on Kitty. 

“Kitten...call...help...” Ms. Munroe whispered as the van started up. 

Kitty felt the van moving and her heart sped up. She was as good as kidnapped now, too. “How?” She whispered to the teacher. “Who do I call?”

“On the...card...” Ms. Munroe managed before passing out again.

“Call on the card?” Kitty muttered to herself. “What card?” Kitty didn't have a calling card, or a number to call if she did. 

The van shook and lurched, tossing Kitty to one side, where she landed with a thud against the wall of the van. She had to ride along now. Twice more she was hurled against the sides. At last the van stopped and shut off. She heard the two front doors slam shut and footsteps moved towards the rear doors. Kitty phased through the front of the van and started running. 

She thought she was clear until she heard one of the goons yell, “It's the girl! After her!”

Kitty phased through a building, onto another street, zigzagging across roads and sidewalks and taking alleys where she could. Finally she stopped to catch her breath outside a rental property office. Taped in the window was a business card. Kitty reached into her pocket and pulled out the business card the professor had given her along with the pamphlets earlier. The card. 

There were two numbers, one on the front, under the school logo, and another on the back labeled, 'after hours'. On a hunch, she pulled out her mobile phone and dialed that one.


	2. New York City to Chicago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Backup is finally on the way.

It was night at last, and shadows lined the streets outside the hole in the wall club they were scoping out. Kurt liked the darkness. It offered him anonymity and cover for his observations. He'd been hanging around for over an hour and was getting bored waiting for Scott and Jean to finish up in the club. Surely they had found the mutant woman by now? He shifted his position on the sign post again and sighed. Cerebro had identified two new mutant signatures yesterday, and the professor had sent teams to recruit them both. Xavier had gone to Illinois for the minor, while Scott's little group was here in New York, on this seedy little street, trying to find the second one.

His abilities made him perfect as lookout, but it was a boring job if things went well for them. When the phone rang inside the car, he was almost happy for something to do. Kurt leaped down and picked it up, wondering what the professor wanted this time. He'd already called several times earlier in the evening to see if they'd located the mutant yet. Kurt figured he probably wanted another update, or to harangue him again for not using his image inducer. Well, he could forget that. He wasn't using that thing unless he absolutely had to.

“Hallo?”

“Is...is this the Xavier Institute?” A young woman's voice, breathless and shaky, came over the line.

“Not quite. It's the mobile number. Who is this?”

“My name is Kitty Pryde, but Ms. Munroe said to call. A bunch of people came to my house but they've all been kidnapped.”

“Where are you, fraulein?” he asked, climbing farther into the car to write down her information. She sounded young and scared.

“I'm in Chicago and—oh shit!” Static and the sound of air rushing was all he could hear until the connection died. 

“Verdammt, now what?” he mumbled just as a burly arm reached in and grabbed his tail.

Kurt was yanked out of the car and tossed aside, but he landed on the wall, agile reflexes saving him from a bad blow. The huge man charged at him, and Kurt called to Jean in his mind to let her know they had company. Kurt dodged the man, skillfully avoiding his blows and clobbering him, until Jean stepped out of the nightclub and telepathically knocked the man out.

“What's the trouble, Nightcrawler?” Scott asked as he followed Jean out of the club.

“We just received a call from someone named Kitty Pryde. She said the X-Men have been captured in Chicago. She screamed and her call was cut off.”

“Kitty Pryde...that's the mutant girl the prof was going out to see. Looks like we're going to Chicago, team,” Scott said as he climbed into the front seat of the car. Jean sat beside him. 

“Did you find the mutant?” Kurt asked, leaning across the front seat. Jean turned to answer him.

“We found her, but she wasn't ready to come with us,” Jean replied. Then she began telepathically reaching out to the professor in Chicago. 

 

**Salem Center, New York to Chicago, Illinois**

 

At the school, they went from the car to one of the Quinjets, and within a few hours, Scott set them down in Chicago. He chose an abandoned lot near the lakefront, and left it in stealth mode. It was early morning in the city, shadows still long and dark. Jean finally got a good read on where their teammates were being held.

“It's the Hellfire Club,” Jean reported. “Emma has them. They're in great danger,” Jean's voice rose in panic as she learned more. “Oh! They're hurting the professor, Scott!”

They started running into the city, Jean leading the way.

“What about the girl?” Kurt said as he scrambled along beside them. He remembered the frightened sound of her voice, and her scream as she was cut off. 

“The professor needs us right now. We don't have time to chase the kid right now,” Scott said as they raced through alleys and climbed fences. “Unless you want to go find her on your own,” Scott said. “Jean and I can handle the rescue.”

“It's not right to leave her out there, but neither can I spend all night scouring the city looking for one girl,” Kurt replied. “Jean, can't you at least point me in the right direction?”

“Hold on,” Jean said, and she stopped running long enough to telepathically scan for Kitty Pryde. After several interminable moments, she pinged some information into Kurt's brain. She and Scott began running again, not even looking back.

“Danke, Jean,” Kurt said, though she was beyond the sound of his voice already.


	3. Just Keep Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Start of a friendship at last.

Kitty was in good shape. She danced every day after school for three hours, and studied three different styles of dance. She ran track as a freshman and sophomore, but dropped it this year so she could spend more time with the electronics club instead. Escaping from lunatic goons in a car should have been easy enough. She knew the city well enough, in spite of living in the suburbs, but by this point she had no idea where she was. She had started telling the guy with the accent on the other end of the line where she thought she was, when the henchmen rounded a corner and spotted her. 

“Oh shit!” she cried and took off again. Every time she thought she finally lost them, they found her again within minutes. She couldn't figure out how they kept catching up to her. Were there a lot more of them than she thought? Kitty had never been so terrified in her life, and prayed someone would show up to help soon. She wondered if the X-Men would even look for her when their professor and teammates were in trouble. After all, she was just a high school kid with a genius IQ. Could that be why they wanted her or did they know she was a mutant?

Kitty drew on stores of energy she didn't know she had. The night wore on, and the goons never quit looking for her. She hid in stores, in cars, in alleys, and still they found her. She lost a shoe climbing a fence and discarded the other when it slowed her down. She fell again and again, scraping her elbows, knees, and hands raw. She was sure there was a shard of glass or metal in one of them and she didn't know enough about her power yet to get it out. She fell hard one time and thought for a minute she'd broken her knee. Limping from the pain, she searched desperately for hiding places.

She turned down another alley and fell when a rat darted in front of her and she tried to dodge around it. This time she couldn't get up. Her legs were like jelly, and her arms trembled as she tried to stand. She started to crawl, though her battered knees protested. A car turned down the street, headlights shining into her eyes. Adrenaline shot through her again as she tried once more to get up. She had to get up or—BAMF. 

She coughed as a vile stench permeated the air around her, and one of the goons grabbed her around her waist. She was too weak and stunned to fight back much as he carried her up the side of a building—wait—up the side of a building? On the roof, the man set her down and walked away to peer over the ledge of the building. Kitty lay on her side panting, waiting for the guy to attack her, or tie her up, or kill her. 

“We can't stay here,” the man said, and his voice seemed familiar. He wore what looked like a costume, most of it very hard to see in the darkness, but she just make out a shot of red down the center. There was some kind of belt hanging off it, that seemed almost to move of its own volition. The man prowled the edges of the building, vanishing briefly as he went behind the roof access. The light by the door sent shadows across the roof as Kitty moved. He emerged on the other side, moving stealthily and almost invisibly through those shadows.

He said as he turned to her, “Can you walk?”

She opened her mouth to answer him, but he had moved into a patch of light, and his features were those of the demons from her worst fairy tale stories. The belt was no belt, it was a tail, and it slithered around his legs like a snake. Kitty put a hand up, then scrabbled against the loose rocks on the roof to get away, scraping her heels and elbows even more.

“Fraulein, please,” he said, palms up, not moving towards her. Now she recognized his voice. He'd answered the phone. He was one of the X-Men. “I'm not as terrifying as I appear.” He crouched, elbows on his knees, and behind him, his tail swished over the gravel.

She froze, staring at him. Pointy ears. Tail. Glowing eyes. His hands and feet were...different. Kitty's voice was barely audible. “Are you a demon? Are you gonna kill me?”

He looked pained. “Nein, no, liebchen, I'm one of the X-Men. I'm trying to rescue you.” He glanced over his shoulder, and with a panicky gesture, held out his hand. “We have to go right now.”

His voice didn't seem to match his features. It was calm and gentle and she felt safe for reasons she didn't have time to analyze. She let him take her hand and suddenly they were in a park. Kitty thought she might vomit, and leaned on her elbows in the grass, dry heaving.

The man spoke again, softly still. “I'm sorry about the teleporting. It often makes my traveling companions feel ill, but it was necessary. The Hellfire Club guards were coming up the building.”

“Ugh...” 

She collected her stomach while he waited, watching their surroundings. “We should get to the jet.”

“Jet?” she said, pushing to her feet. Her knees buckled, and she fell, but he was standing there and caught her. His grip was solid and strong and surprisingly gentle.

“Yes, we arrived in a jet and you'll be safe there.” 

Kitty wasn't so sure. “I don't know you. I've never met you, you look really creepy, you're alone, and I only have your word that you're an X-Man.”

He stopped scanning the bushes for a second to catch her eyes. “I know, liebchen. We spoke on the phone earlier tonight. I'm Kurt Wagner. Known as Nightcrawler to most of the world.”

Kitty hesitated. She knew they didn't have a lot of time before the Hellfire Club found her again. She was pretty beat up and tired, and he'd already saved her once.

“All right. But I don't think I can run any more.” Idiot, she thought. Now he knows you can't escape!

“No?” He looked concerned, though, not predatory. His eyes had no pupils, and though she couldn't easily tell where he was looking, his expressions were readable enough.

“I've only been running all damn night.” She tested her injured knee. “And I might have done something to my knee.”

“I see. Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I guess.” What was the alternative? 

“We will walk then.” He scanned the park. “But we should still hurry.”

Kitty tried. Her knee hurt. Her feet hurt. All of her hurt. Her legs still felt like rubber. She wanted her bed. Kurt kept up a brisk pace, and she tried to keep up. Finally they stopped in a vacant lot near the lakeshore. There was no jet.

Kitty froze, her mind racing as she tried not to panic. The guy had obviously lied to her. He really was a demon, she thought, and now he was going to, what? Kidnap her? Kill her? Eat her? All of the above? She started backing away as he walked to the middle of the lot and pulled a small gadget from his pocket. Out of nowhere, a door opened down and she could see the inside of a jet. Kitty gaped. It was like a scene from one of her Star Trek movies. Kurt started up the ramp, paused, and came back to help her along, offering his arm like gentlemen in black and white movies. She realized, as she let him help her hobble up the ramp, that his face was covered in a fine layer of fuzz. She was tempted to reach out and feel it.

Kitty forced stiff muscles to work one more time. Inside, the jet was surprisingly spacious. She collapsed into a seat, her thoughts still going back and forth, like a tennis match. Will he or won't he kill me? Kurt shut the door of the jet, and again, Kitty's heart began to race. She was trapped now. If he was trying to kidnap or harm her, he'd just succeeded. But he reached into an overhead compartment and pulled out a First Aid kit. Then he crouched in front of her and inspected the cuts on her knees and feet and hands. 

She studied him while he cleaned the scrapes. His ears were pointy, and she was reminded suddenly of Spock. She laughed, and he looked up, one dark blue brow raised above a luminous golden eye. How could he even see?

“Was?” he said, then amended. “What?”

“Ever see Star Trek?”

“I admit I have not, but I know of it.”

“Do you know who Spock is?”

“Mm, yes, the Vulcan? Is that right?”

“Yes. Exactly. You reminded me of him.”

Again the raised brow and curious look. He turned back to his task. 

“Nothing too serious, but you have many scrapes,” he said, as he cleaned and bandaged her knees. He was gentle, and she began to realize her fears about him were wrong. He looked at her knees again. 

“Which is the one you hurt?”

She pointed, and he bent the knee several times, probing carefully at the kneecap. “I don't think you've broken it, but it may be sprained. We can have Hank—our doctor—look at it later if you wish.”

“I think there's glass in my hand,” she said instead of answering. She held it out to him, palm up, and pointed where she could feel it. He took her hand in his, turning it this way and that. “Ah, yes, I see it. Hold still.” He produced tweezers from the kit and pulled the tiny shard out. Kitty winced. 

“Sorry.” He grinned, and she noticed he had fangs. 

“No, it's okay. Thanks.”

“You're welcome, liebchen,” he replied with a smile.

“I mean, thank you for everything. Saving me. This. All of it. I really, um, I really appreciate it.”

“You're welcome.”

He put the First Aid kit away and went into the cockpit. Kitty bent her knees and elbows gingerly, testing the bandages. They seemed strong. Kurt turned around and watched her for a moment. 

“Everything acceptable?” he said.

She gave him a tired smile. “Yeah.”

He gestured to the seat next to him. “If you want.” 

She stood carefully, giving her tired muscles time to adjust again. He had taken great care in bandaging her feet. She tested the sensation and found it felt pretty good. She accepted his invitation to sit in the cockpit with him, leaning her head against the back of the seat as she curled up. “My mom's gonna be frantic.”

“As soon as Scott and Jean return, we'll get you home. I'm sure Jean will convince her it was all just a big adventure.”

“And how will she do that?”

He made a small sound like a laugh. “She's a telepath, like the professor.”

“So she's just gonna brainwash my mom?” Kitty said.

“No...not exactly. I'm sure she'll be entirely aboveboard.” He regarded her with what she thought was meant to be a playful expression.

“She can brainwash her,” Kitty said. “My parents are being jerks.”

He laughed again, and gave her a sympathetic smile. Kitty watched him puttering at the controls for a while as fatigue settled into her body. She tried to focus on what he was doing, to keep herself from falling asleep. When that stopped working, she talked to him.

“What are you doing?”

“Scanning the area for my friends and our enemies.”

“How does it work?”

“It...” he scratched his head. “I don't know, exactly. I only fly the plane, I don't handle the tech.”

“You're a pilot?”

“Ja.”

“And you fly this jet?” The jet was spacious enough for their needs, but certainly not meant for many passengers. Not like a passenger plane. It looked more like something from a sci-fi movie.

“Ja, sometimes. This and the Blackbirds.”

Kitty had heard of them. She sat up, lifting her head from the back of the chair. “Did you say Blackbirds? Plural?”

Kurt grinned and his fangs flashed in the light from the console. “I did. We have three.”

“They cost like...billions of dollars. How do the X-Men have three?”

“One of our teammates helped design them and we got a deal. Buy two, get one half price.”

Kitty giggled, then yawned. 

“They are incredible planes,” he continued, a bit of a dreamy look on his face. “Fast and fun to fly. If you join the school, I will teach you how to fly them. It's required training.”

Kitty stopped laughing. “What? No way, I can't learn to fly a Blackbird.” 

“Why not? I learned, and I'm but a lowly circus boy. Now I help teach everyone else. Here, I'll show you.” He pointed to some of the buttons on the small jet. “It's not that different from this one.”

Kitty watched as he pointed out each of the controls, and agreed that it wasn't as complicated as she had imagined it would be. She repeated it back to him, and he looked impressed.

“You remember all of that?”

“Well...yeah.” She did have a good memory.

“That's very good,” he said and seemed not to know what else to say about it. He glanced up as Kitty yawned again. “Would you like to lie down? It may be a while before the others return.”

“No, no I'll be all right.” Another yawn, so deep her eyes watered, but she was determined to stay awake. “You said something about the circus.”

“Ja, I grew up in a circus in Germany.”

“You grew up in a circus, and now you fly Blackbirds for the X-Men. Your life could be a movie. So what was that like, growing up in a circus?”

He proceeded to tell her all about it, while her eyelids grew heavier. When she woke up, she was in the back of the jet on a cot, and there were other people talking and moving around. She looked for Kurt. He was near the cockpit, leaning on one of the seats. Funny that seeing him made her feel better immediately. He was talking to a taller man with brown hair who had his back to Kitty. A redheaded woman had her hand on the man's arm. The copilot's seat was occupied by Mr. Howlett from her house and behind him was Ms. Munroe. Piotr and the professor were in the back.

“Ah, you're awake,” said the professor. Everyone turned to stare at her. 

“Uh, yeah.” She stared back. “Hi.”

She found herself searching for Kurt's face again. Ms. Munroe came over instead, smiling beautifully. 

“We're so proud of you, Kitten,” she said. “You must have been frightened.”

“Is that crazy woman in jail?” Kitty asked as she sat up straighter.

Piotr laughed, and Kitty blushed, not knowing why that made her feel foolish. The redheaded woman frowned. “No. Her name is Emma Frost, and she's not in jail. She and her henchmen escaped.”

“Is she going to come after me again?” Kitty said, panic rising. 

“It is possible,” the professor replied. “But if your mother allows you to enroll, you could begin at the school in short order.”

“That sounds like a bribe,” Kitty said.

“It's not a bribe. Or a threat,” said Mr. Howlett, speaking to her for the first time. “It's the facts. You'll be safe at the school. We don't know why Frost and the Hellfire Club want you, but they do, and they won't stop 'til they have you.”

Kitty started to tremble as this information sank in.

“Logan, you shouldn't scare her like that,” said Ms. Munroe.

Kitty looked around at all the people—X-Men—waiting for her to answer, to give them some decision. She found her gaze stopping at Kurt's face. His expression was neutral until he noticed her. Then he smiled. She could see the tips of his fangs. 

“I'll go with you,” she said, still looking at Kurt. She turned to the professor then. “If my mom lets me. She might not be too happy about what happened tonight.”

“I'm sure we can take care of that,” said the professor. “Scott, would you please take Miss Pryde home?”

Kitty wondered why the other man, Scott, was flying the plane. The others took seats in the back. Ms. Munroe sat next to her on one side, and when the redhead started to sit on her other side, Kitty whispered, “Would it be okay if Mr. Wagner sits here?”

A brief hesitation, and the woman went to the next seat. Hesitantly, Kurt took the seat next to Kitty. 

“You didn't finish the story about your first day on the trapeze. I think I fell asleep.” She added hastily, “But not because it was boring.”

Kurt rubbed the back of his neck, and Kitty noticed the others were watching, odd looks on most of their faces. She frowned, feeling once again like the butt of a joke she didn't understand.

“Before you begin the flight's entertainment, Kurt,” said the professor, “We must establish a guard at her home. The Hellfire Club wants her, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to attack. Frost was in her mind all night, she's sure to know she was injured.”

“Wait,” Kitty said. “What do you mean she was in my mind?”

“She is a telepath,” Kurt said.

“Is everyone a telepath?” 

Kurt patted her hand. “Don't worry, liebchen, the professor will teach you how to keep them out.”

The professor laughed at her. Kitty didn't like that very much, but she did like Kurt and Ororo and Piotr, and she liked the adventure this promised. She was also angry enough at her parents to feel this was somehow thumbing her nose at their desire to send her to a boarding school.

“Not everyone is a telepath, child,” the professor said, still chuckling slightly. Kitty hated being called a child. Xavier turned to Kurt with further instructions for him. “You will stay behind and monitor the house.”

“I could stay, Professor,” Ororo offered.

“Thank you, Storm, but I have need of you on another assignment. Kurt is perfectly capable of keeping Miss Pryde safe.”

“Of course, Professor, but I—” 

“Now, don't worry, Ororo. I'm certain it will work out for the best.”

Kurt nodded, but Kitty sensed he wasn't as happy about the assignment as he was acting. 

Professor Xavier continued his instructions. “I will 'inform' Mr. and Mrs. Pryde that you are there to assist Kitty with the move, as a service the school provides to out-of-state students. I'll ensure they provide you a room or at least a bed. Of course, you'll need this,” he said, and held out a small device. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Kitty watched the exchange, and Kurt's face when he took the device was utterly unreadable. “What's that?” she asked as Kurt's three-fingered hand closed around it.  
The professor was done for now, turning away as Scott started the liftoff sequence.

“It is an image inducer. It creates a hologram around my body so that I appear...normal...to others. Like this.” 

He put on the device, which looked like a fancy watch, and pressed a button. Suddenly in place of Kurt was a man with average features and fuzz-less skin. Kitty jerked back, startled at the abrupt change in his appearance. 

“As long as no one touches me they don't know what I really am,” Kurt explained.

“What happens if they touch you? Like, something bad? Does it ruin the hologram?”

“Nein, see?” He took her hand and passed it over his cheek. Fuzzy. Questions answered, Kitty withdrew her hand. 

“Oh. Oh,” she repeated, feeling stupid. 

He clicked the image inducer off and smiled at her. Kitty felt at ease for the first time since she'd walked in to find four strangers in her house. 

“So, my first day on the trapeze...” he began again as they approached Kitty's house.


End file.
